ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Five different players scored as Navy (4-2-1) defeated Bryant (2-2-1), 5-2, on the first day of the Navy Invitational. Navy is currently ranked No. 10 in the NCSAA Mid-Atlantic Region Poll and has now won three straight games and four of its last five. A win against Davidson on Sunday will allow the Mids to claim the title of their annual home tournament.

"Scoring five goals is great for us at home," head coach Carin Gabarra said. "But we're not pulling all of the pieces together yet. We gave up a lot of decent chances and a couple of goals today. We are happy with the five goals, but we've got a lot of work to do."

Bryant came out of the gates applying a lot of pressure to Navy and broke through in the 12th minute when sophomore goalkeeper Alexes Lopez-Shaw mishandled a pass back and Bryant's Kaitlyn Hinck hustled in to knock the ball free, moved around the keeper and scored on an empty net.

It looked like Bryant would go up 2-0 in the 16th minute when Ari Goldberg fired a ball on target from 20 yards out, but the ball was just high, squarely hitting the cross bar and rebounding away.

Navy eventually got back into the game and earned a free kick in the 37th minute. Senior Kate Herren played the ball into the box to junior Stephanie Strine. Bryant initially got a foot on the ball but did not safely clear it out of the box and freshman Caprice Kelty swooped in to fire on net to tie the game at 1-1.

Just before halftime in the 42nd minute, the Mids would capitalize on another set piece. Herren took the free kick on the left side and played the ball to freshman Rachel Hunter who one-touched it into the box to freshman Jade Seabrook who ripped a shot to give the Mids a 2-1 edge to take into halftime.

Navy's success on set pieces continued in the second half, with Herren picking up her second assist of the night on a long serve of 30 yards off a free kick into the box in the 56th. The ball sailed in and sophomore Sam Newhaller timed her run perfectly to head the ball into the net from inside the six-yard line.

Sophomore Ashlynn Soellner late set junior Brittany Fruin up a nice run down the left side in the 67th minute. Bryant's goalkeeper came off her line to challenge Fruin 15 yards out and initially knocked the ball away. Fruin stayed with the ball, set herself, and fired a shot that made its way past three Bryant defenders who were attempting to protect the net.

Fruin assisted on Navy's fifth goal in the 81st minute, making a run down the left side and then crossing to freshman Gabby McIntyre. McIntyre was in traffic but was able to meet the ball and punch it through the incoming defense for the strike.

Bryant added its second goal a minute later, taking advantage of a poorly cleared ball. The ball came right to Suzanne Sanders in the box, who chipped a shot over Hannah Legler, who entered four minutes earlier, from around eight yards out.
Navy did well to overcome the slow start. After trailing 1-0 35 minutes into the game, Navy scored five unanswered goals. The Mids were outshot 7-2 in the first half but outshot its opponent 12-9 in the second.

"We didn't attack at speed in the first half," Gabarra said. "But after a little bit of discussion at halftime, we started running at them a bit more and throwing more people into the attack and making a run at them. That opened things up a little bit and we were better executing the set pieces in the second half."

Lopez-Shaw earned her fourth win of the season in goal, making five saves in the contest.

Due to rain throughout the day, the Navy Invitational's first game between Davidson and George Washington game was moved to GW's campus and played on its turf field, where Davidson defeated George Washington, 4-2. Although the sun was out for Navy's game, the field was still soggy. Sunday's schedule is currently unchanged. GW will play Bryant at 11:30 am at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility and Navy will play Davidson at 2 pm.

Notes:
The five goals scored by Navy is its highest total since a 6-0 win over Delaware State on Oct. 3, 2010 ... the seven combined goals are the most for Navy since beating Francis Marion, 6-2, on Aug. 23, 2009 ... Seabrook, Kelty and McIntyre are all freshmen who scored their first career goals in the game ... the freshman trio and Fruin also all came off the bench to score ... this is Fruin's third career multi-point game ... Herren matched a career high with two assists.